


Tale

by neneshell



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Female Frisk (Undertale), Frisk Had Places To Be, Frisk gets down with the sickness, Frisk's Side of the Mountain, Gen, Judging the Judge, Male Monster Kid (Undertale), Non-ambassador Frisk, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Pure Pacifist, Sans can't mind his own business, we need to talk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-21
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-11-01 16:21:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17870633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neneshell/pseuds/neneshell
Summary: "It isn't that he's worried about her."Frisk has been distant from her friends ever since she left the Underground almost a year ago. But lately she's been missing entirely. Sans wants to find out why."I don't want to hate you."





	Tale

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this because it's been on my mind for a while. It's basically a conversation Frisk and her friends desperately need to have if she is to move on with her life. 
> 
> In this timeline Frisk has only ever been pacifist, and has never so much as raised her hand to any monster (except Asgore and Photoshop Flowey, and she spared them in the end). She never reset except to re-enter the Underground after the neutral route and the only time-skips Sans would have experienced would have been from instances where she was killed in battle. 
> 
> She did not go with Toriel or accept the position of ambassador after leaving the Underground.

It isn’t that he’s worried about her. 

 

Of course, he worries about her in a general sense. She is a good friend, so even ignoring her powers over time he feels the same compassionate worry for her that he feels for all of his friends. She’s been a bit distant for the year since she broke the barrier, sure, and it’s not like he sees her every single day, but he doesn’t take those things personally. She’s distant to almost everyone. But he’s seen her even less than usual this last half month. 

 

In fact, he hasn’t seen her at all.

 

Sure, she didn’t take Toriel up on her offer of a home and family, and she didn’t accept Asgore’s offer for the position of ambassador, but for the last year she’s been a near-constant figure in the monster community that has sprung up at the base of Mount Ebott. And, once every week, she’s met up with their friends for Sunday dinner and game night. 

 

And really, Frisk is a capable young woman. At twelve she’d managed to navigate the entire underground and had not only survived, but had liberated his people in the process. He’s never had a reason to believe that she couldn’t handle herself, wherever it was that she went when she wasn’t around. 

 

So he isn’t worried. Really. He’s just… curious about the reason behind her recent absence. All of them are. Which is the only reason he decides to stop one of his students, the only one he’s sure would know how to reach her, after science class one Friday afternoon.

 

“Heya, MK, hold up a minute,” he calls casually to Monster Kid before he manages to scramble to the door. The young yellow monster skids to a halt, lagging behind as always since he was still getting used to the smooth floors of Toriel’s school. He balances on his tail to avoid toppling over and redirects himself to his teacher’s desk.

 

“Yeah, Sa- I mean Doctor Sans?” The skeleton looks up from the emails he’s pretending to read, unimportant for their lack of a response from his human pal, and points his grin towards his brother’s biggest fan. 

 

“ _ Tibia  _ honest, this is a personal matter, so you can  _ doc  _ the titles for now.” MK laughs weakly, and Sans revels in his barely-contained eye-roll. It was nice, having a mini-Papyrus around to torment during the workday. “I was just wondering if you’ve seen Frisk recently.”

 

“Oh, uh, yeah. I saw her just yesterday, Sans.” MK’s near permanent smile fades a little, and Sans waits a beat for him to volunteer any more information. When he doesn’t, Sans presses further. 

 

“Well, she hasn’t come by in a couple weeks and Toriel’s starting to get worried.” This isn’t a lie. In fact, everyone in their group was getting antsy about Frisk’s absence, but none more so than Toriel. Even with Frisk’s rejection, she’d always see the little human as her own child. “And we have the anniversary celebration coming up, which is supposed to have Frisk as the guest of honor, but she isn’t answering her phone or her email. Any idea what’s going on?”

 

“Uhh…” The young monster’s eyes dart everywhere but Sans’ face, and the former Judge senses MK’s desperate search for a suitable lie to tell. Most of his students know better than to try to get anything short of the truth past him, but a few are still brave enough to give it a shot. Whether or not they’re good at it at all. “She’s, uh, been away on a trip with her dad? She just got back yesterday.”

 

“Izzat so,” Sans drawls, seeing his own hollow gaze reflecting back at him from MK’s eyes as the child bravely makes eye contact with him. “Well, she never mentioned any trip to us.”

 

The Kid stands his ground, maintaining eye contact and not volunteering any information, just shrugging his armless shoulders in response. Sans can’t sense an overt lie in what the Kid’s said, but his gut’s telling him that there’s much more to this story. And Sans can’t help but admire his loyalty to his best friend, so he quickly devises a new tactic. 

 

“Well, I need a favor if you have a moment.” He shuffles through his bag for a moment, fishing out a battered paperback he’d been reading in his down time lately. “I promised Frisk I’d let her borrow this. If you’re planning on seeing her this weekend, could you bring it to her?”

 

MK’s face perks up, his grin appearing once more. “Sure thing! I’m going to see her tonight.” Aha, some information Sans can use. The monster offers his satchel to his teacher and admits the book to its depths before scrambling back to the door. His mad dash to his next class, however, is cut short by a wall of white and purple. 

 

“Oh, I apologize my child.” Furry white hands reach down to right the young boy who grins up at the face of his obstacle. 

 

“No prob, Miss Toriel! Gotta go to gym, though, or Miss Undyne’s gonna make me do laps!” He calls over his shoulder as he continues out the door into the hallway. Toriel and Sans both watch him go, waiting for the door to swing shut as his tail flicks out of sight. 

 

“He says Frisk’s been away with her dad,” Sans offers when Toriel looks to him expectantly. “And that she just got back into town.”

 

“Her father…” Toriel mutters contemplatively. “Well, as long as she is alright.” She finishes after a moment. Sans can understand her hesitation: Frisk’s spoke of her father often, but never brought him around. No monster had met the man except for MK, as far as he knew. 

 

“Yeah, but I don’t think that that was the entire story, Tor.” Toriel looks up from her thoughts, lifting an eyebrow in question. “MK’s hiding something. Seemed real nervous, too. I think it’s about time I got to the bottom of this.”

 

“Oh,” Toriel’s eyes fill with concern. “Are you certain that is wise, dear? We all agreed to give Frisk her space. She has earned it after all she has done for us.”

 

Sans sighs and reaches over to take one of Toriel’s hands in his, the paw dwarfing his phalanges by a wide margin, and looks up into his girlfriend’s eyes. “I know, Tor. But… I’m worried,” he finally admits, both to Toriel and to himself. “My instincts are telling me something’s wrong. Monster Kid’s face just now only made it worse. I could be wrong, but I gotta know. I gotta check on her.”

 

Toriel huffs, resigned. “Oh, very well.” She leans down, placing a kiss gently on top of Sans’ skull, and he feels a blush heat his cheekbones. “You’re a good man, Sans.” She leans back and smirks down at him playfully. “You’ll be an amazing father someday.” 

 

Sans sputters at that, his blush spreading and deepening while the love of his life laughs at his bewilderment. 

 

*****

 

The end of the day comes slower than Sans would have liked. He’s tried to cherish every moment of daylight he could since finally greeting the Sun for the first time, but today’s mission is for the dusk. 

 

He shifts, uncomfortable on the branch he’s perched upon. He hasn’t done a stake out like this since the kid’s first day out of the Ruins in the Underground, but this is the most convenient hiding place close to what Toriel assures him is Monster Kid’s bus stop. He’d teleported here the moment the kid’s bus had departed from the school, and currently he was regretting his impatience and failure to wait a while before coming. Turns out MK’s stop was the last one on the line, and would take about 45 minutes to arrive.

 

Sans squirms on the branch again. He really shouldn’t have had that coffee during last period.

 

Relief washes over him when he hears the straining rumble of the ancient bus climbing up the hill, its brakes squealing almost painfully in the afternoon air.  He knows that MK will most likely head to his own home before going to visit Frisk, but at least the kid’s within sight now. 

 

Monster Kid steps carefully off of the bus, turning back around to bid farewell to the driver. A deep, echoing bork sounds out in response, and the door to the bus slides shut before the big cheese limo pulls away. Sans watches MK, curious as to why he’s gazing intently after the bus and not walking into one of the few house nearby. They’re on the very edge of town, and as far as he can tell it’s just the two of them outdoors right now. 

 

What is he waiting for?

 

Once the bus has vanished from sight, MK looks around cautiously before turning and marching, not into a house as Sans had suspected, but directly into the woods. He passes under the very tree that conceals the skeletal physicist, and steps confidently into the forest.

 

_ Almost like he does this every day...  _ Sans suspects inwardly,  _ Guess it’s time to test my accuracy.  _ He sighs silently, and begins teleporting from branch to branch. He’s never been good at teleporting on new territory, but he can usually manage it with some concentration as long as he can see where he’s going clearly. It was one of the few things he missed about the Underground: he’d known every inch of that place so thoroughly he could get anywhere without trying. 

 

_ Still,  _ He thinks, smirking as he manages to follow slightly behind MK without missing a beat or being detected,  _ At least I can tell Paps I’m  _ branching out  _ with my workout routine later.  _ He chuckled quietly, filing that one away for use when he got home tonight. 

 

The kid marches on, stomping up a partly-worn path that looks like it was cleared out specifically for someone kid-sized. Now that he’s away from the road, he seems more at ease with making noises on his trek. They’ve been traveling along for almost fifteen minutes by this point, and Sans can feel sweat building on his brow. He can’t keep this up all night.

 

He’s almost ready to take a break and start following MK on foot when he smells something out of place.  _ Smoke?  _ He looks up above the orange and brown canopy and sees a thin trail of black smoke coming from ahead.  _ What on Earth…  _

 

MK has picked up his pace, bursting into a clearing Sans hadn’t noticed until now. Sans puts forth some effort and sends himself to a branch on the very edge of the clearing, surprised to find a small cabin below. 

 

The thing looks ancient, with moss and vines crawling up the stone foundation onto the logs that make up the walls. Old but unbroken glass fills two windows flanking a front door painted with chipped bright red paint. Light glows from within, presumably from the fire sending smoke out of the chimney atop the building. 

 

In contrast, a greenhouse sits further back in the clearing that looks almost new. From here Sans can see a number of potted plants sitting on racks within, along with a field alongside it that appears to be freshly weeded, brimming with vegetables and gourds. 

 

_ Is Frisk… living off-the-grid entirely?  _ He’d heard about people choosing to live away from society and making a go of it in the wild, but he’d never considered that his human friend might be living this life with her father. He’s jarred out of his contemplation by a knock coming from the front door below. 

 

“Friiiiisk?” MK knocks with his foot again, balancing on his other foot and his tail to accomplish the feat. He waits a moment, looking confused. “Huh.” To Sans’ surprise, instead of knocking again MK sets his bag on the porch and begins digging through it, retrieving an ancient-looking key with his mouth. 

 

“Alright, practiced this plenty of times,” Sans hears him mutter around the key. “You got this MK.” The kid awkwardly lowers his head to the door, fumbling around a few times before successfully inserting the key into the lock and using his small snout to turn it until, with a small creak and a click, the door comes unlocked. 

 

The lizard-like monster uses his foot to open the door then, calling out as he enters the cabin. “Helloooooo? Frisk?” MK leaves Sans’ sight, and there’s a pause before “Frisk!”

 

Sans, startled, almost slips and falls out of the tree. He barely manages to catch himself in time to prevent a plummet to the Earth below, righting himself before teleporting to the ground safely, his adrenaline making him forget his exhaustion for now. Still partly concealed in the tree-line, he looks through the now open door, feeling his soul stutter at the sight inside.

 

MK is kneeling on the ground, over a blue and purple lump that appears to be an unconscious Frisk. He is nudging her, trying to rouse her, but she doesn’t appear to be moving at all. Subtlety forgotten, Sans bolts inside. 

 

MK looks up as the skeleton crosses the threshold, face paling in shock. “Sans!?”

 

Sans ignores him, kneeling on Frisk’s other side and getting a better look at her face. She’s breathing, thank Asgore, but she’s out cold. He touches her neck, feeling an increased pulse, and places the back of his metacarpal bones against her forehead. She’s running a fever. 

 

As he’s looking her over, MK continues staring at him, a panicked look plastered on his face. “W-w-wha- how did you-?” 

 

Sans cuts him off, scooping Frisk up in his arms. “Where’s a bed?” MK swallows and gestures with his head behind Sans, and the skeleton turns to find a large, quilted four-poster in the corner. He gently deposits her, taking care to keep her head off a lump he finds on the back of her skull, presumably from where she’d fallen down. He turns back to MK. “Is there a first aid kit?”

 

Monster Kid still looks pale, but he nods and heads over to a sink in the opposite corner of the cabin in what appears to be a kitchenette. Sans takes a moment to look around the one-room space. 

 

It’s rather spacious, with a sitting area in the front right corner, a bed and dresser in the front-left, a gas range, a wood stove, ice box, and hand-pump sink in the back right, and what appears to be a work area in the back left with a desk and an overflowing bookshelf. A well-maintained acoustic guitar sits next to the desk, mahogany wood shining more brightly than anything else in the room. Over the work area is a loft, with a hammock suspended from the ceiling and a smaller desk. There’s an easel pointed away from Sans on the loft as well, hiding whatever’s been drawn most recently. 

 

His observations are cut short by MK returning with a first aid kit dangling from his jaw. His face is still pale but there’s determination in his eyes. “She’s been sick for the last few days, but she said she was feeling fine this morning. Said she was going to go out to weed while I was at school.”

 

Sans notes the large number of things to unpack from that revelation, but he puts his questions aside for the moment as he pulls open the surprisingly well-stocked kit. All of his questions, of course, except one: “Where’s her dad?” He asks as he pulls out a digital thermometer. He looks up at the young monster as he slips a sanitary cover over the tip.

 

“He’s…” The monster looks away, tears in his big eyes. Sans slips the thermometer into Frisk’s mouth, waiting patiently. “Look…” He looks back at Sans pleadingly. “She made me promise I’d never tell. She’s gonna be so mad you found this place…” He’s crying openly now and Sans sighs, guilty. 

 

“It’s not your fault I followed you, kid, calm down.” The thermometer beeps once, and Sans extracts the tool to read it. 100 degrees. Hot, but not quite life-threatening. “Looks like she overestimated how well she was feeling. And bumped her head at some point.”

 

MK nods. “It looked like she fell getting out of her loft.” Sans looks up from the thermometer, agreeing with the kid’s deduction. 

 

“We need to take her to the hospital.” MK balks further at that, surprising Sans. 

 

“N-no, she hates-”

 

“No…” Both of them jump, looking down at Frisk. She’s cracked one eye open. “Please…” She’s shaking, and Sans feels his will shatter under her gaze. He exhales, agitated. 

 

“Fine.” Sans takes her hand, green magic flowing into her small body and hopefully easing any pain she might be feeling from the lump on her head. Her eye slides shut again, and he senses her lose consciousness once more through the magical connection he’s maintaining. The skeleton struggles to maintain the flow; He’s never been very skilled at this particular branch of magic, and he’ll need help if he’s going to heal her entirely. He’s already tired as it is.

 

“MK,” The monster jolts, his gaze jerking up from his best friend to look at his science teacher once more. “Get my phone out of my sweater pocket.” He nods towards where he deposited his sweater as he entered. The monster obeys, nudging the phone out of the pocket with his foot and pinching it between his toes and depositing it on the bed. Sans uses his free hand to hit speed dial 3.

 

There’s only a faint connection, and the line sputters when the call connects, but he smiles at the familiar voice coming from the speaker. 

 

“Tori, I need your help.”


End file.
